Game On
by Rachel Wilder
Summary: It was the first week of football camp and Eric Taylor hoped his roommate would be a guy he could hang out with.  A Friday Night Lights prequel.


**Game On**

Eric Taylor hitched his bag over his shoulder and took the last set of steps two at a time. He knew he should probably hold back and save it for practice the next morning, but right now he just wanted to get his stuff in his room and figure out where they served the chow at night.

He walked down the hallway looking for room 404. Baker Hall was supposed to be the athletes' dorm and from the looks of the guys who had already shown up, this must be an exclusively football floor.

He pulled the key they had given him down in the lounge out of his pocket, then noticed that the door was partially open. He pushed it open wider so that he could walk in.

"Oh, sorry," he exclaimed, taking a half step back out.

"Oh, no…we're sorry," the guy he assumed was his roommate said as he broke a deep long kiss with the girl standing in front of him. She blushed and looked down at the floor.

"We were just saying goodbye," the roommate explained. "Joanne drove me up from Dillon this morning."

"Eric…Eric Taylor, from Waco," Eric replied, holding out his hand. "Uh, I'm hoping to be playing quarterback."

"Mitch Street, from Dillon. I play tight end. This is my girl, Joanne."

Eric reached out and shook first Mitch's hand, then Joanne's.

"I should get going," Joanne said, quietly. "Momma will wonder where I've been if I don't get to my aunt's before dark and call her."

"You going to Tech, too?" Eric asked.

Joanne shook her head. "No, I have two more years of high school."

"Oh," Eric replied. "Well, it's awful good to meet you."

He turned his attention to unpacking his bag as Mitch and Joanne shared one more set of goodbyes.

"I'm just gonna walk down to the car with her, then you wanna go grab somethin' to eat?" Mitch asked.

"Sure," Eric replied.

He seemed like a good enough guy and to be honest, Eric was happy to be sharing his room with someone else on offense. He looked around the room and there were no obvious signs that Mitch was a big partier or anything.

"Taylor?"

Eric stuck his head out into the hall to see who was calling his name. "Yeah?"

A young girl was standing in the hall holding a pile of binders. "Play book. Coach wants you to look these over tonight. Can you take Street's as well?"

Eric looked at her, her tan arms straining with the weight of the play books. "Can I help you with those?" he asked as he took the books marked with his name and his roommate's.

"It's no big deal," the girl said.

"How'd you get stuck with this job?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Work/study," she responded. She slid her hand out, so they could shake hands. "Tami."

Eric looked up as Mitch came back down the hall. "Are you almost done? We're going to go get something to eat."

Tami smiled. "Uh, yeah—these are the last of my play books and it was nice that y'all decided to live on the same floor."

"Y'all ready?" Mitch asked as he came back out of the room.

Eric reached for half of Tami's pile of books. "We can drop them off later tonight for you."

"Should I trust you?" she asked, smiling at him.

He smiled back at her. She was cute. He felt guilty for a moment when he thought about Sarah, the girl he had taken to the prom, but they had both decided that they wouldn't try to keep something going long distance. And this girl seemed to know something about football—or at least was willing to learn. "Absolutely," he replied.

She followed him into the room to put the books on Eric's desk. "Just don't get me fired on my first day."

* * *

Eric came back into the room after delivering the last of Tami's play books to find Mitch stretched out on his bed looking through the book.

Mitch closed the book and set it aside. "So, you think you're ready for this?"

Eric sat down across from him. "I hope so. My dad sure thinks so."

"I thought we might play y'all at State," Mitch replied.

"Yeah," Eric answered. "We sure hoped we'd play you. Congrats, by the way."

Mitch looked down at the ring on his finger and smiled. "It was pretty awesome. Had a great offensive line—Buddy Garrity's playing for the Longhorns this year. Made my job easier with them blocking."

Eric nodded.

"Well, we best turn in, I suppose," Mitch said as he pulled back the sheets on his bed. "It's gonna be a long day tomorrow with those two-a-days starting."

Eric nodded and climbed into his own bed. He reached over and turned out the light. It was game on.

_fin_


End file.
